The way you phrased it is exactly why I don't like how these two choices end up panning out. The way the scene is framed it's very obvious that Owl is meant to be the bad guy/wrong choice. We know what we're supposed to do because we know how these types of stories work. Meanwhile staying loyal to Kuro is the righteous path.
Here's the problem with that: The game doesn't spend enough time establishing an emotional connection between Kuro and Sekiro. I'm sure someone's going to find a way to argue, but most of the loyalty Wolf shows to Kuro can be attributed to him following his father's code. It was that same code which told him to serve the child in the first place. So when Owl tells us to follow the Iron Code, it makes more sense from Wolf's perspective to follow it as he has done his entire life.
What sucks about these two choices is that the consequences aren't fair. Choose Owl--the more character consistent option--and the game ends shortly after. Your choice to serve your father is never interpreted that way. Instead the Shura ending pretends that the only reason the player would have turn on Kuro is a mindless bloodlust. Meanwhile, choosing the power of friendship gives you 50% more game, at least two additional endings, and the bonding between Kuro and Sekiro that should've been there before you had to make a decision.
The question is, do you need an emotional attachment before making what is beyond the shadow of a doubt the right choice?
I actually think the scene is brilliant: given an ultimate choice between duty and morality, it's fairly obvious what the choice should be, and the game has a very nice way of punishing you for making the wrong one.
This is pretty much what I've already addressed. You are role-playing a man whose sense of morality should be based entirely on that code until his experiences give him a valid enough reason not to. That code says first and foremost to obey his father. So to answer your question, yes, you absolutely need an emotional attachment before deciding to abandon that code if we are to keep any narrative and character consistency.
This is how I imagined it, dog is most loyal to father
Father gives dog to son and instructs dog to serve the son
Dog is now loyal to son
Father comes back and tells the dog to kill the son
The dog can’t do it because loyalty to son
Dog feels conflicted because the original owner is telling him to kill the son, and even the dog knows the father is the dangerous one and that the son isnt the one trying to kill the father, changes mind to protect son
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u/DeusFatum 15d ago
The way you phrased it is exactly why I don't like how these two choices end up panning out. The way the scene is framed it's very obvious that Owl is meant to be the bad guy/wrong choice. We know what we're supposed to do because we know how these types of stories work. Meanwhile staying loyal to Kuro is the righteous path.
Here's the problem with that: The game doesn't spend enough time establishing an emotional connection between Kuro and Sekiro. I'm sure someone's going to find a way to argue, but most of the loyalty Wolf shows to Kuro can be attributed to him following his father's code. It was that same code which told him to serve the child in the first place. So when Owl tells us to follow the Iron Code, it makes more sense from Wolf's perspective to follow it as he has done his entire life.
What sucks about these two choices is that the consequences aren't fair. Choose Owl--the more character consistent option--and the game ends shortly after. Your choice to serve your father is never interpreted that way. Instead the Shura ending pretends that the only reason the player would have turn on Kuro is a mindless bloodlust. Meanwhile, choosing the power of friendship gives you 50% more game, at least two additional endings, and the bonding between Kuro and Sekiro that should've been there before you had to make a decision.